III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 33 

Urging the Government of Canada to end the commercial seal hunt. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2005 

Mr. LEVIN (for himself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. LUGAR, Mr. REED, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. JEFFORDS, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. 

CANTWELL, Mr. DODD, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. SCHUMER, 

Mrs. MURRAY, and Mr. DORGAN) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION

Urging the Government of Canada to end the commercial 

seal hunt.

Whereas on November 15, 2004, the Government of Canada 

opened a commercial hunt for seals in the waters off the 

east coast of Canada; 

Whereas an international outcry regarding the plight of the 

seals hunted in Canada resulted in the 1983 ban by the 

European Union of whitecoat and blueback seal skins 

and the subsequent collapse of the commercial seal hunt 

in Canada; 

Whereas the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 

U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) bars the import into the United 

States of any seal products; 
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•SRES 33 IS

Whereas in February 2003, the Ministry of Fisheries and 

Oceans in Canada authorized the highest quota for harp 

seals in Canadian history, allowing nearly 1,000,000 seals 

to be killed over a 3-year period; 

Whereas harp seal pups can be legally hunted in Canada as 

soon as they have begun to molt their white coats at approximately 12 days of age; 

Whereas 95 percent of the seals culled over the past 5 years 

were pups between just 12 days and 12 weeks of age, 

many of which had not yet eaten their first solid meal or 

learned to swim; 

Whereas a report by an independent team of veterinarians invited to observe the hunt by the International Fund for 

Animal Welfare concluded that the seal hunt failed to 

comply with basic animal welfare regulations in Canada 

and that governmental regulations regarding humane killing were not being respected or enforced; 

Whereas the veterinary report concluded that as many as 42 

percent of the seals studied were likely skinned while 

alive and conscious; 

Whereas the commercial slaughter of seals in the Northwest 

Atlantic is inherently cruel, whether the killing is conducted by clubbing or by shooting; 

Whereas many seals are shot in the course of the hunt, but 

escape beneath the ice where they die slowly and are 

never recovered, and these seals are not counted in official kill statistics, making the actual kill level far higher 

than the level that is reported; 

Whereas the commercial hunt for harp and hooded seals is 

a commercial slaughter carried out almost entirely by 

non-Native people from the East Coast of Canada for 
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seal fur, oil, and penises (used as aphrodisiacs in some 

Asian markets); 

Whereas the fishing and sealing industries in Canada continue to justify the expanded seal hunt on the grounds 

that the seals in the Northwest Atlantic are preventing 

the recovery of cod stocks, despite the lack of any credible scientific evidence to support this claim; 

Whereas 2 Canadian Government marine scientists reported 

in 1994 that the true cause of cod depletion in the North 

Atlantic was over-fishing, and the consensus among the 

international scientific community is that seals are not 

responsible for the collapse of cod stocks; 

Whereas harp and hooded seals are a vital part of the complex ecosystem of the Northwest Atlantic, and because 

the seals consume predators of commercial cod stocks, removing the seals might actually inhibit recovery of cod 

stocks; 

Whereas certain ministries of the Government of Canada 

have stated clearly that there is no evidence that killing 

seals will help groundfish stocks to recover; and 

Whereas the persistence of this cruel and needless commercial 

hunt is inconsistent with the well-earned international 

reputation of Canada: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the Senate urges the Government of 

2 Canada to end the commercial hunt on seals that opened 

3 in the waters off the east coast of Canada on November 

4 15, 2004.

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